


Just Let Me Die, Already!

by insignificantmuggle



Category: Hetalia: Axis Powers
Genre: Alternate Universe - Beauty and the Beast Fusion, Disney AU, F/F, F/M, M/M, but it's not a major character, death tw I guess, onesided affection
Language: English
Status: In-Progress
Published: 2017-08-20
Updated: 2017-12-30
Packaged: 2018-12-17 19:55:21
Rating: Teen And Up Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 3
Words: 5,840
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/11858574
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/insignificantmuggle/pseuds/insignificantmuggle
Summary: In the Kingdom of Prussia, the Royal Family had two sons. Gilbert, the senior of the younger by 7 years, was the rightful heir to the throne. However, he was born cursed with skin pale as paper, and the silver hair of a man far beyond his years. His eyes were the striking red of the demon that many believed him to be. (Beauty and The Beast AU)





	1. Prologue

In the Kingdom of Prussia, the Royal Family had two sons. Gilbert, the senior of the younger by 7 years, was the rightful heir to the throne. However, he was born cursed with skin pale as paper, and the silver hair of a man far beyond his years. His eyes were the striking red of the demon that many believed him to be. His brother, Ludwig, on the other hand, had the golden blond hair and blue eyes of his mother and father. Ever since Ludwig’s birth, Gilbert had been cast out of his parents’ favor, and deprived of their love. In attempt to mask the pain that tore at his heart, he told himself (and everyone that he should ever hold interaction with) that he was the best. His overconfident facade provided a treatment for the symptoms, however, it couldn’t kill the roots of the disease. 

He felt inferior to his younger brother, who was showered in praise by all who came to visit, and especially by his mother and father. He loved Ludwig, and he tried hard not to let his jealousy towards the boy show, but every day it weighed down on him more and more. One day, however, the feelings of envy all came to a shattering climax. Although it was against convention, his parents had chosen the younger as the heir to the throne as opposed to the older, due to Gilbert’s “hellish features”. 

Enraged and insulted, he retreated to his family’s castle in Austria, forbidding his parents and brother from contacting him ever again. He lived here with the staff of the castle as his only company in relative peace, until the night of his eighteenth birthday, when he received a letter from Ludwig, informing him that Ludwig was to pay a visit to him against the wishes of the King and Queen.

Gilbert was furious. Who did Ludwig think he was? The person who took everything that was supposed to be his by default. Ludwig was the reason that his parents hated him. The reason why they never showed him any affection, love, or praise. He had the blond hair and blue eyes he never had, his castle, _his room,_ everything that should have been _his._ And now, _now_ he thinks he can just come back and pretend that _none_ of that even _happened._ Now, Gilbert was going to take all of that _back_ , everything that should’ve been his from the beginning.

 

* * *

 

That night, Ludwig came to visit with no ill will in his heart. Gilbert murdered him. Immediately he was gripped by shame and incredible guilt. Forget about the throne, he deserved to die.

As he was about to take a sip of the same poison he’d given to Ludwig to drink, however, a beautiful goddess appeared before him, knocking the glass out of his hand.

Eyes wide, he stared up at her in horror and shock. Her luminous form looked down on him. She was bathed in light that seemed to fall upon her from all directions. She was clothed in a billowing white gown that rippled like waves in the breeze coming from nowhere. Long golden locks tumbled down to her mid-back. Her face resembled that of a porcelain doll. She looked to be the most beautiful creature he’d ever seen. 

“You have done a great misdeed, committed out of envy and greed.”

Gilbert didn’t try to defend himself, knowing he had done wrong.

“For this you’ll pay a price worse than death. Life.”

Her eyes opened, her long lashes that were fanned out onto her pale cheeks fluttering a bit as she did so. For a brief second he was greeted with the empty whites of something inhuman, before being blinded with golden light. He felt his skin shifting into that of something not from this world.

His body that they had called a demon’s shifted into that of a genuine monster. His teeth were sharpened like a wolf’s, bones lengthened far beyond the realm of human capability, skin blackened as if by ash and flame, covered in long tangled fur as black as coal. His striking red eyes, remained, however. When the burning in his skin faded, the goddess stared right into those eyes.

“If you truly wish to die so badly, there is one way to undo this curse.” 

A red rose appeared before her, glowing with a faintly pink light.

“It will bloom until your twenty-first year. If you can learn to love another, and earn their love in return before the last petal falls, my spell will be broken. If not, you’ll live forever.”

She offered him an enchanted mirror, which shone with a green light, in parallel to the rose.

“In this mirror, you can see whatever you may desire to.”

He took it in his hand, immediately dropping it in shock at his reflection. Before, his eyes, his hair, his skin, they’d been the source of all his problems, although he had pushed the blame onto Ludwig. Ludwig, who had died because no one ever could treat Gilbert like he was fully human. 

Gilbert felt dread grip him in the pit of his stomach. If no one could even care for him when he was still human, how would they be able to _love_ him as a _monster_? The spell seemed like a hopeless joke, a needlessly cruel punishment. Not that he didn’t deserve anything less awful for what he’d done to Ludwig, but at the same time, it felt more right that he should pay the price of his own life.

She left the castle in a flood of blinding light, placing a spell upon all the other occupants as well.

The more he thought about it though, the more he grew to realize that living in this hell of guilt and self-hatred was far, far worse than dying back on that day. Every day he hated himself more, and every day he grew one step closer to his twenty-first birthday. Eternal life would be unimaginable. He was desperate but knew of no way he could solve his problem.

Years passed, leaving him a mere three months before his twenty-first birthday. At the height of his despair, he had locked himself in his room, forbidding any other occupants of the castle from interacting with him, for he need not eat, sleep, or even breathe to continue living in this hell.

# 


	2. Chapter One

The sun rose, casting its light on the hills of a village. There was a quaint cottage in the middle of a grassy meadow, which resided on the outskirts of said village. It was in this cottage, where our protagonist, Roderich Edelstein, lived. As the red-toned skies of dawn changed to the blue of midday, the door of this cottage was opened by an unusually elegant man. He had dark brown hair and a fair complexion. His unusually violet-colored eyes were striking as they looked out on the morning from behind a pair of thick-lensed glasses. There was a small mole (or beauty mark, as he would insist upon if you were to refer to it as a mole in front of him) on the left side of his bottom lip. He was dressed in a light linen shirt and dark trousers. Roderich huffed as he pulled the songbook closer to his chest, setting out towards the center of the town.

His house was situated a fairly long distance away from the village. The time it took to walk there gave him the time to observe and appreciate the lush green scenery around his home. He was sure of it, that today was going to be enjoyable. That no ill-intentioned civilian (namely Elizaveta) would bother him on his travel to and from various shops, and that he could sit at the foot of the fountain in the center of town to quietly examine his new purchase before returning home to listen to his father practice for the concert in Vienna. His plans were carefully mapped out in his mind.

Looking around, he noticed that the skies were a striking blue, hardly a cloud in them to shield the world from sunlight. As he got closer to the town, the countryside began to fade into the hustle and bustle of the market.

As he walked closer to the center of the town, he passed by a frazzled looking mother switching between controlling her children and trying to barter with the shopkeeper over the price of eggs.

“Jesus, can you believe she can’t afford 6 eggs? Someone must be driving up the price! And the farmer usually brings 5 dozen eggs with him to the market! If someone ate that many, they’d be roughly the size of a barge!” He mused to himself as he passed through the first street. So much for his plans of buying a few to make an omelet for Dad. Glancing around, he noticed a baker pulling out a loaf of bread from an oven. Roderich could smell the faintest hint of bread wafting from the bakery and he could see the baker hurry to put the loaf down before he burned himself. Turning around, he had to quickly pause as a horse-pulled wagon made its way down the street, the creaking wooden wheels shaking and jostling as they hurried down the uneven cobblestone. Roderich glanced around for any more wagons before quickly making his way across the street.

Buildings lined each side of the market, each one relatively indistinguishable from the other on their own, but they were each decorated appropriately according to what items each one hosted. Clotheslines were hung across houses above them, and people were constantly coming and going. The sunlight filtered through the colorful fabrics giving a slight tint to the shadows surrounding him. As he continued to walk, A group of children ran past him, tossing each other a ball and laughing while another group of kids played jacks.

A shrill cry of, “GIVE ME THAT BACK!” was heard as a girl with blonde hair pulled into twin braids chased after a pair of boys holding a doll. The boys kept taunting and teasing her but eventually began to panic when the little girl started to cry.

Roderich ignored and avoided the children while muttering, “It’s not my business.” As he navigated his way through the center of the village, past the fountain and the groups of people all passing by to get to their jobs, to purchase things from the market, or to travel to and from town, he noticed how some people would subtly avoid him as they passed him by. Well, it was to be expected, honestly. In this town, he didn’t exactly have the best reputation. Rumors were known to run wild regardless of their basis in fact, and this always tended to affect Roderich negatively. Some shopkeepers even gave him looks of disapproval as he passed them by before entering the bookstore.

“Welcome back! Didn’t I see you just the other day?” was the greeting offered from the bookstore owner, who was a skinny elderly man with a balding head and thick round glasses.

“You know I spend all my time playing the piano,” came the swift reply as Roderich browsed the seemingly endless shelves of music books. Quickly looking over the titles, he pulled out one by his favorite composer and quickly proceeded to the checkout line.

“I was wondering when you would purchase this one…” mused the shopkeeper as he peered at the title of the purchase.

“It was only a matter of time,” Roderich said with a small smile as he thanked the man for his purchase and left the store, already looking over the new piece, feeling satisfied and excited for a quick performance when he got back home.

He moved towards the fountain at the center of the town, his eyes continuing to glance over the pages of the newly purchased book. Glancing up, Roderich could see a woman doing laundry in the fountain. That was… very odd. He disregarded it and then sat down at the edge to the fountain as he began to look over the newly purchased music book in earnest. His eyes skimmed over the stark black notes on the well worn page, taking in the rhythms and tune. He couldn’t wait to start practicing when he got home…!

A large herd of sheep began to make their way in front of the fountain, being herded along carefully by a young shepherd. One of the sheep strayed from the rest and came over to look at what Roderich was reading, even going so far as to try and take a bite out of the corner of the page. Quickly, Roderich jerked the book away from the sheep and scowled. However, with that sudden movement, he almost lost his balance, which would have caused him to fall into the fountain. Deciding it was about time to start the walk back to his house, Roderich stood up, dusted off his pants, and began the walk home.

As he made his way to the end of the herd, he stopped and sneered at the shepherd, “Control your sheep better, fool.” The shepherd looked embarrassed and began to stutter out an apology, his green eyes flicking to the ground. The boy went on to wring his hands as he stared at the floor, his long brown hair falling to cover his face, seemingly waiting for some more criticism- he in the end received none, though, as Roderich decided he wasn’t worth the breath. He just couldn’t believe the nerve of people these days…! He scowled again, but stopped himself, instead taking a deep breath in and exhaling out as if he was releasing his frustrations with the exhale.

Roderich went on and strolled through town, humming along and tapping his fingers in mock-piano-playing against the back side of the book, ignoring all of the stares and whispers that followed him across alleys and streets, and around every corner.

“There goes Roderich Edelstein. The town’s priss-ass.”

“I hear he played at a concert in Vienna!”

“Oh, please. He’ll never be a real man. All he cares about is _music_!”

“ _Liza’s_ more masculine than _he_ is, and she’s a woman!”

He attracted gossip like a magnet. Of course some remarks were positive, but most were negative. One woman, however, seemed to see no flaw in Roderich. Perhaps because she didn’t seem to care about his interests, which were what most of the townspeople tended to brand as unusual.

This woman was Elizaveta Hedervary, the most handsome and sought-after woman in town, admired and adored by many. For a woman, she was heavily muscled. Elizaveta had wavy light brown hair that reached her mid-back and was posed in a way so as to look as attractive as possible.

“Feliks, take a look at him,” she remarked from a doorway, her sharp green eyes trained on Roderich as he conversed with a shopkeeper, “He’s the most beautiful gir--guy in town.” Her eyes followed his every action, watching.

As soon as Roderich passed her by, she stopped him, taking his hands in hers.

“Roderich! It’s nice to see you out and about for once!” Elizaveta exclaimed, lips pulled into a wide and almost predatory like grin.

“Are you making fun of me?” Roderich dryly asked, pulling his hands free and taking a few steps back.

Feliks interjected not a second after Roderich had finished speaking, “That’s not what she meant, n-no! Liza’s just saying how, um, how nice it is to see you around!”

“ _It’s Elizaveta,_ ” she aggressively semi-whispered under her breath to the blond. “And yes, that’s exactly what I meant!” She announced proudly. She advanced towards Roderich by a few steps. His eyes darted side to side uncomfortably as he fiddled with his cufflinks, trying to find a way to leave without being too offensive.

“Hmm?”

Elizaveta’s gaze fell upon the book he was clutching in his hands with a grip telling of how nervous he was. She plucked it from his grasp effortlessly and flipped through the pages, evidently without much interest. She feigned it anyway, and as she did remarking in a mock-absent minded tone that just ended up sounding forced, “Wow. This music is really, uh, melodic. I like this note.”

 _God, she’s an awful liar,_ Roderich thought to himself as she continued to flick through the pages, pretending to understand the meaning of all the notation, occasionally making remarks devoid of substance on various pieces. Feliks nodded eagerly beside her, with his signature eager grin. Roderich managed to tune the two of them out for maybe even two minutes before she finally handed the book back to him. “Thank you,” he said half-exasperatedly.  

“Why do you waste your time on this, though? It’d be much better spent on more interesting things!” She gave a not-so-subtle hand signal behind her back to Feliks, who quickly shouted, “Oh! Like you, Liza!”

She acted surprised, replying with, “Yes! Exactly! Don’t you agree, Roderich?” she looked over in his direction to where he had been standing, only to realize he had already begun to walk back to his house. Her fists clenched angrily and she turned to Feliks, scowling with clenched teeth. “Feliks, you shithead! You screwed this all up!” she yelled accusatorily. Feliks turned his gaze away from her, and muttered an apology.

“I’m sorry, Liza,” he said sadly.

“You imbecile!” she yelled again, whapping him in the head this time. “It’s fucking Elizaveta!”

* * *

 

Roderich headed back to his house happily, albeit a little annoyed from the encounter with Elizaveta. “I can’t believe that just happened...” He huffed as he made his way down the road back to the cottage. He opened the door and was immediately greeted by his father playing the flute.

He was a pale, sickly looking man with long gray hair pulled back into a low ponytail, sharp bone structure, and eyebrows so light and wispy it was hard to notice them under most lighting conditions.

Roderich waved to him, knowing making any noise or interrupting with a spoken greeting would certainly annoy and/or distract him. His father returned the gesture with a nod of acknowledgement before turning his attention back to the sheet music on his stand. His pale blue eyes were moving quickly to keep up with the fast paced music, his fingers a blur as they pressed down on the keys.

Roderich set his things down on the table, before taking a seat on the couch to sit and listen. He took in the melody for a while, humming along at times (very quietly) until the man finally set down the flute beside himself.

“So, Rod, excited for the big concert tomorrow?” He asked.

Roderich shifted a bit in his seat. “I don’t know. It’s quite a while away, and you know how I am with directions.”

“I’ve got a map, there’s no reason for any worry. We’ll be in the inn five towns over before you know it!”

For some reason, however, this statement that he knew was meant to be reassuring made him even more worried. Something about the whole trip seemed ominous. Sure, he was excited to play in Vienna. It was the opportunity of a lifetime, but that feeling kept tugging at him, following him for the rest of the day and late into the night. The foreboding thoughts were relentless, making Roderich almost dread the upcoming trip.

He’d soon find out that these thoughts were not entirely baseless.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> This probably had a little bit more humor that you expected. We hope it was still funny!  
> We're so sorry for the delay with this update! There was school, family, and in the end the ultimate obstacle was our own laziness and procrastination.  
> In the end, though, we still bring this chapter to you! There will definitely be a smaller gap of time between this chapter and the next than the gap between this one and the last. We promise!


	3. Chapter Two

Roderich found both himself and his father surrounded by a sea of dark trees, towering far above the forest’s floor and shrouding their path in shadows. Every few steps he’d hear the noise of something that would set him off a bit, causing him to jolt to the side against his father.

“Roderich, calm down,” his father chuckled as Roderich jumped for what seemed to be the hundredth time. “You’re acting like a boy half your age!”

Roderich flushed and avoided his father’s gaze. He hated when he was called out on the few aspects of his personality that could still be deemed immature or ungentlemanly. As they continued to weave their way through the thick of trees, which seemed to be growing closer together the longer their journey continued, Roderich found it harder and harder to pinpoint their location off of his map. He looked up at the sky, only able to see little shreds of sky and the occasional star through the thick canopy.

At some point, the ambience of night began to wear off, leaving an eerie silence only interrupted by the occasional shake of the branches that the wind would send through the forest. Conversation between Roderich and his father had somewhat halted, although the lack of it wasn’t necessarily awkward. It was rather peaceful, actually. Only the quiet sounds of the trees and his pony were left to accompany them. Roderich even felt as if his navigation was going well… Although, that feeling has never necessarily meant anything before.

Then, it began to snow.

As they rode along the desolate and frostbitten ground, snowflakes began to float down gracefully between the trees, covering the forest floor and the branches. Their breath came out foggy, and the cold of the wind bit against his face a little more. The snow seemed to make the forest even quieter, creating a blanket of white to soften each step.

“It’s a little nice isn’t it?” Roderich remarked absentmindedly. He watched as the little flakes that would fall onto the black fabric of his coat and melt into it.

But the clouds eventually thickened, as they always do with snow, blocking out the little moonlight that they had. Now their path was solely lit by their lantern, casting large shadows across the snowy forest floor and changing the mood considerably. The two travellers were set on edge, each one of those shadows could now easily be mistaken as an unknown figure in the forest (and by Roderich, they were, a few times.)

The longer it snowed, the heavier it seemed to get. Larger snowflakes began to fall rapidly and started to gather faster. The snowflakes stuck to Roderich’s hair and coat, leeching what little warmth he had, allowing the cold to seep in. Roderich began to shiver, the enjoyable feeling of light snowfall having long abandoned him to the unpleasant bitter cold. His fingers were becoming numb while holding the map, despite wearing gloves. His father didn’t seem to be faring much better against the freezing weather, in a similar condition to Roderich.

They both continued to follow Roderich’s directions, following a seemingly random pattern of twists and turns. The horses trudged through the snow, however, his father began to look more and more worried. The flakes grew bigger and bigger, as well, covering the floor faster and faster.

Roderich’s father snatched the map from his hands frustratedly, “Give that here, Roddy… Let me see something here.”

He made a few noises of discontent as Roderich stewed. He seemed like some sort of teacher assessing a student’s unsatisfactory work as he surveyed the the route they were supposed to take.

“Ah, that’s right then, or rather, that’s wrong. We’ve gotten off the track...” his father said with a slight worried note to his voice.

Roderich’s head snapped towards his father, eyes wide with surprise. “Why did you wait until now to tell me?! How long have we been on the wrong path?!” he exclaimed, the shout seemed to be  louder because of the previous silence between the two travelers.

“Not that far back, just a few turns ago…” his father replied. Roderich let out a sigh of relief, _thank goodness, not too long then_. “...I think,” his father muttered, so only he could hear it.

“How can you be so calm in all this, Father?” Roderich whined indignantly as they began to turn around.

“Well, you can’t blame me for being calm. Getting lost with you as my guide is nothing short of a regular occurrence, isn’t it?”

Roderich’s blush from the cold intensified from the embarrassment of being called out on one of his faults, “I-It’s not like you’re any better!” he stuttered. His father chuckled at him, _again_ , much to Roderich’s dismay.

“Look, how about you head back? I can make it there myself… I’ll come back for you in the morning. We won’t stall tomorrow. We still have a day until we have to be in Vienna, after all!”

Roderich was a bit skeptical at this, as much as he hated to admit it, he couldn’t place any trust in the man. But due to either the cold, his tiredness, or his lack of confidence in his ability to navigate and his sense of direction, he decided to turn back.

As the last vestiges of light from his father’s lantern faded from his sight, he walked through the forest. The pure white of the snow was a bit more reflective, helping a little with the darkness, but not much. The tracks they had made, though, were a huge help to Roderich. As the dark sky began to fade into the bright white of the snowy clouds, Roderich finally saw their familiar cottage in sight. He dismounted, and forgetting his fatigue waded through the snow towards the front door.

He practically collapsed into the couch, the long journey back having drained all of his energy. As the early morning light began to make its appearance through his windows, he felt his eyes closing unconsciously, and before he knew it, he fell into the deepest sleep he’d experienced in a while.

Roderich’s father continued on through the harsh weather, though it was no easy feat. The large amount of snow on the ground made it difficult for even the horse to move through.

He was about to turn back before it was too late, but he soon spotted a large structure in the distance. Travelling back would take a lot of energy and time, and he might not make it with the bad weather and with how tired both he and his horse were. Pushing onwards, he made it to the large doors that stood proudly in front of the castle. He could barely see them in the darkness, but the light of his lantern illuminated intricate carvings on the doors, he squinted, trying to make them out.

Wiping the frost off of one of them with the side of his glove, he saw He knocked on them, however there was no answer. Deciding that it was better to appear rude than to freeze to death, he went ahead into the castle and was welcomed to a large fire already burning.  Surely this was a sign that the castle was still inhabited. But by whom? Surely it would be quiet at this time of the night, but not this quiet. He called out into the darkness,

“Hello? Is anyone there?” His voice echoed ominously through the empty unlit hallways. Receiving no reply, he gave up all common  common courtesy in favor of his tiredness and he quickly set down his things and rushed over to the fire. The warmth seeped into his bones as he sat down in an armchair that was close by the fireplace. He let out a sigh of relief as feeling finally began to return to his fingers and face.

Loud footsteps were heard throughout the room. However, because they echoed, it was impossible to tell where they were coming from. Soon, a shadowy figure became visible from the hallway leading from the East Wing.

“Who goes there?” A raspy voice called out.

The figure then stepped into the firelight and Roderich’s father gasped. Long, coal-black fur wrought with tangles covered a large hulking figure. Monstrous hands were at the end of inhumanly long limbs with sharp talon like claws at the end of them. Teeth were razor sharp and appeared slightly yellow, though he wasn’t sure if that was the teeth themselves or the glow of the firelight. His eyes travelled up the gruesome creature and settled on the blood red eyes that seemed to glow with malice and hatred, staring right back at him.

“I said, who goes there?” The creature, no, monster said. He let out a blood curdling scream.

* * *

 

“Liza, what do you think he’ll say?”

“Yes, obviously. He’s got the hots for me, like every other man in this town. Also, don’t call me that, you imbecile.”

“Wow. Rude much?”

This comment was followed by a slap from Elizaveta. Her face spelled out distaste but seemed a little amused, anyway. “As if anybody would reject _me_ ,” Elizaveta said confidently, turned and began to walk towards Roderich’s house. About a third of the way to the door, she turned around, her hair whipping around in the process and nearly hitting Feliks, announcing, “Here’s what’s going to happen; after Roderich says yes and we walk out together you’ll cue the band,” she gestured towards the band and Feliks in some sort of mock-conductor style, as if waiting for something. Feliks, seeing the cue, began to direct the band to begin playing.

“We’ll walk out together directly down the aisle. I don’t care for drawn-out engagement periods.” Liza turned and looked at the pastor, “Be ready for us to appear at any time, okay?” she said, her voice threatening. The pastor nervously nodded his head and Liza began to make her way towards the door once again. Right outside of the door, she preened and straightened her dress, flattening nonexistent wrinkles, and knocked on the door.

All the racket, from both Elizaveta’s knocking and the blaring brass of the band served as an alarm cock for Roderich, who up until this point had been fast asleep. He rose from the couch groggily to another barrage of knocks on the door.

“Who could that be at this hour…?” He said mid-yawn. His eyes then fell upon the clock. “Oh, it’s noon! I’ve slept in…” Where was his father? Roderich had been under the impression that he would be arriving in the early morning. Perhaps he’d gotten lost as well. Oh, what a bother, that father of his… With another knock he was reminded of the task at hand, though. He rushed over to the door, fixing his hair rushedly with his hands and pulling his glasses out from underneath a cushion. He glanced in the mirror one last time before swinging the door open.

His face fell when he laid his eyes upon the visitor.

“So Roderich, did you just wake up?”

It was Elizaveta. She was especially…dashing…today. Her hair looked like she’d spent a good hour or so fixing it up, and he was pretty sure this was the first time he’d ever seen her in a dress, although she did have a rather long waistcoat over it. Her expression was more smug than he’d ever seen it. What kind of situation had he just opened the door on…?

“You know, I’ve been thinking.”  
_You, thinking? Yeah, right._ Roderich thought, but he didn’t dare voice it aloud. “Uh, yeah...about what?” He asked instead.

“The future,” Liza said simply as she pushed him aside, stepping through the doorway without a second thought. Roderich glanced over her, a bit confused but mostly annoyed at the vague answer. Although it was her first time in his house, she walked around the kitchen as if she owned the place, before finally sitting down.

“So what, are you interested in horseless carriages? My father is too, he’s the one you’ll want to talk to about that kind of stuff with.”

Ignoring his borderline snarky answer, she stated, “Just picture it. A nice fireplace going, me sitting in a chair, resting my feet on the table,” she placed her sparkling clean high heels (another first for her) on a pile of music books, wrinkling them inconsiderately. Roderich reached out a hand to try and pull them out from her feet, but quickly drew it back as he decided against it and stood there doing nothing but nervously wringing his hands. “Just imagine our wedding! You in one of your handsome suits, me in a, uh, dress, and all of the people who would be attending. Feliks and my parents in the front row, your father would be there too, of course, all my fans as well, they’d be rather upset wouldn’t they--”

“ _Wait for one second_. Wedding?” Roderich asked skeptically.

“It’s the next step in our relationship, isn’t it?”

“ _What_ relationship?”

Elizaveta gave him a look as if he were stupid. “Roderich, I thought you were smarter than this. When two people love each other very much, it’s only natural for them to...” As Elizaveta was saying this, she began to move closer to Roderich, backing him into a wall. Roderich continued to step backwards to avoid Elizaveta. However, he soon found himself trapped against the door and Elizaveta without a falter in her long rant quickly moved her hands to either side of Roderich’s head. Because of the heels, she was taller by nearly half a head, her face looking down on him, making him feel even more trapped. He had to say _something!_

“Before you go any further, what you’re saying right now is sorely lacking any basis in fact. When did I ever say that I loved you?” Roderich said annoyedly. He slowly but deliberately reached behind himself and scrambled for the doorknob, twisting it once he got a good enough grip on it. He then swiftly pulled open the door. _She needed to take a hint_ , he thought as he moved to the side, leaving her to stumble forward through the doorway without anything to lean on.

“Wai-wai-wait---!” she stuttered, nearly falling into a puddle of mud. _Was that man mad? No one is too good for me. Even Roderich, no,_ especially _Roderich._ He should be grateful that she even considered him an option!

“Have a nice day!” Roderich called out as he closed the door on her, a falsely innocent smile across his face.

Feliks stood there drop-jawed.

“This is unexpected, huh…?” Elizaveta was fuming. She grabbed Feliks and shook him by the shoulders. “Calm down Liza,” Feliks said, “He’s probably like, worried about his dad being gone. It’s totally not a big deal.”

“His father is missing? He must be so distraught! _That_ has to be why he turned me down,” Elizaveta mused to herself. She made no motion to the band nor pastor, and instead pulled Feliks along by his arm. No, no, it was only a stupid rationalization. She couldn’t even blame it on Feliks this time, it was simply a matter of Roderich not knowing what was best for him. She’d need to find a way to knock some sense into that music-addled mind of his. Ah-ha, perhaps she even already had an idea...

“I’ve got a plan Feliks, but the two of us alone aren’t adequate for its scope.”

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> AN: We banged this one out a great deal quicker than the last one (but still slow). I don't really know about this chapter... I hope you enjoyed it though! We'll get right to work on the next one for you guys. Winter break is great.  
> ps: we'll have a bonus feature related to this chapter at the end of it all

**Author's Note:**

> AN: This is very, very, very historically inaccurate. Don’t go correcting us, we already know.


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